By Wendy Carson
This production was part of the 2025 Indy Fringe Festival in August.
If you recognize the name “Medea,” you may know it* from ancient mythology: A spurned woman who kills her children when her husband leaves her to marry another. However, those who read and study her mythos know she is a far more complex and fascinating character. In fact, not all tales have her as the one who kills her children.
Regardless of your familiarity with the story, playwright Aaron Mark has found a unique spin with “Another Medea,” American Lives Theatre’s Fringe production.
Lukas Felix Schooler brings us the story of Marcus Sharp, a brilliant stage actor whom he idolized for years before his arrest and imprisonment. They correspond for three years, until, though he had long refused to say a word in his defense, Sharp becomes convinced that he can trust this man to bear his tale.
Schooler then embodies Sharp for the rest of the performance, enacting that fateful prison interview.
Sharp’s story centers around Jason, a wealthy oncologist, with whom he enters into a committed relationship. Jason is supportive at first, but when work opportunities away from their West Village penthouse appear, he finds ways to discourage Sharp from accepting them.
A typical narcissist, Jason insists that his love (and money) is all Sharp will need. However, like so many others who put aside their own careers to be devoted to a partner, Sharp becomes hopelessly bored. He develops a close relationship with Jason’s sister, Angelica, which helps him to feel more useful, and gives him an idea for the perfect gift for his darling Jason’s 50th Birthday.
Since Jason adores children but is unable to have any of his own, Sharp will impregnate Angelica, and the children would be as close to actual genetic children that Jason could have. While Jason freaks out at first, he warms up to the idea and the twins, Grace and Lily soon arrive.
Everything is wonderful again, but after a few years, Jason takes Sharp to a play and spies a handsome young star, Paris, and a new “friendship” begins. Also wealthy, Paris better understands Jason. So, of course, he starts to usurp Sharp’s place in the household and family.
Things escalate quickly from there, resulting in Sharp’s current incarceration. Before he ends the visit, he mentions that the tale would make an excellent one-man show.
Not only does it make a great show, but it is also mesmerizing. Schooler is such a remarkable presence. He invites you on a journey and you fully follow him down every twist, turn, and rabbit hole to the conclusion. Schooler’s master class performance was directed by Jacob David Lang, who assures us that we will be safe from the orange-clad felon as we share this experience.
This is such an amazing piece of theater. I was personally moved beyond words at how vividly the prose was woven into a story that I felt I witnessed rather than just watched. If you missed seeing it, you should really petition American Lives Theatre to see about bring back another staging so you too can experience this harrowing saga.
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(*If you were thinking the Tyler Perry comedy character, she is “Madea,” likely named as an allusion to the myth, but with complications of her own.)
Plays with John & Wendy 